NEARLY all emails received by businesses every day are spam, research by a Tees Valley technology company has found.

MC Ware has been carrying out research since the start of last year into the issue of junk mail, and has found that about 96 per cent of all emails sent on a daily basis are spam.

The company, based in Stokesley, North Yorkshire, reached its findings after the constant monitoring of email traffic through its servers, which host clients from across the world. It also discovered that only 0.1 per cent of delivered mail contains a virus.

But with fraudulent, inappropriate and unhelpful emails being delivered in significant numbers each day, MC Ware has advised businesses to check their antispam software.

Managing director Jonathan Wheatley, who is a chartered member of the British Computer Society, a member of the Society for Computers and Law, a member of the Fraud Advisory Panel and a qualified ethical hacker, said: “We didn’t expect quite so much email traffic to be spam. Spam wastes valuable time as staff have to trawl through junk mail and if about 96 per cent of all mail is spam, then that’s a lot of wasted resources.

“Businesses can save themselves time and money by having the correct anti-spam procedures in place.”

MC Ware, which was established in 1998 and employs 14 staff, has a real-time barometer on its website – mcware.co.uk – to show how much spam passes through a mail server each day.